Durians (named after the Southeast Asian “king of fruits”) has been described as “…live-instrument electronic music on steroids, featuring dance-inducing breakbeats and drum’n'bass amongst a psychedelic swirl of sonic delights…”, and “…like Aphex twin and Squarepusher but taken to the next level…”

The troupe began in Burlington, Vermont with multi-instrumentalists Eli Chalmer and Nick Kirshnit, later recruiting drummer Ryan Ramirez last year. Chalmer and Kirshnit were classically trained as youths to be orchestral musicians, and they combine this training with influences from artists such as Bonobo, Cinematic Orchestra, Radiohead, Sonic Youth, Amon Tobin, Infected Mushroom and Squarepusher in the creation of their own dynamic soundscapes.

Durians music itself is heavy, organic, anthemic and laden with improvisation, the musicians playing a network of machines controlled not only by MIDI keyboard instruments, but also by heavily modified acoustic tools such as trombone, trumpet, MIDI-fied bass guitar, recorder, MIDI-fied theremin and drums. Live, the group combines drum’n'bass, nu-jazz, dubstep, house, and psychedelia in one heady brew, an intense, energetic, and even humorous experience, as their audience interaction often involves handing out strange Asian candies, pickled eggs and other off-putting treats.

For their OTP debut, Durians will be joined by Leon Gruenbaum, inventor of, and virtuoso performer on, the Samchillian Tip Tip Tip Cheeeeepeee, a MIDI controller that gives the performer the ability to perform extremely quick, rhapsodical lines. Gruenbaum has performed on the Samchillian in Vernon Reid’s band Masque, and as well as with Chaka Khan, James Blood Ulmer, Cyro Baptista, Nana Vasconcelos and others. Strange fruit for the tasting, indeed.

Durians put on a truly superb show - great, trippy visuals that we splayed on the ceiling & wall space behind the stage. Their music flowed well between dub/drum 'n' bass modes (played on real drums), improv, electronica & fusion; in fact, many moments reminded me of a guitarless Ozric Tentacles more than anything else.